The 16th annual event drew several dozen veterans. United Veterans of Wars President John Dorward urged them not to let anyone forget the sacrifice made by many to ensure Americans' freedom today.

"Don't ever, ever put down your guard," he said. "If you do, they will forget us."

A few minutes before 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese carrier-based aircraft attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

In the end, eight American battleships and 13 other vessels were sunk or badly damaged. The Japanese attacked destroyed nearly 200 American aircraft and killed or wounded about 3,000 American sailors and personnel.

The next day, the United States joined World War II, which ended in 1945 after 44 million Allied soldiers and civilians and 11 million from Axis countries had died.

Dorward said his childhood buddy and close friend "rests with the Arizona," referring to the battleship that sank in Pearl Harbor with 1,103 sailors aboard after the vessel was struck eight times with Japanese bombs. It serves today as a memorial for the fallen.

He said he would have been aboard the ship with his friend had it not been for an eye problem that left him out of the military until the United States entered the war.

"Those who died did not die in vain, but so we can have freedom," Dorward said.